Privacy Policy

1. Who this policy covers

This Privacy Policy explains how [Company Legal Name] ("IndiaFreelancers.com", "we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, discloses, and protects personal data when you use indiafreelancers.com and related services (the "Platform"). It applies to Clients, Freelancers, and visitors. It should be read together with our Terms of Service.

2. Information we collect

Account information. When you register, we collect your display name, email address, country, and a securely hashed password (we hash passwords with Argon2id and never store or have access to your plain-text password).

Profile information. If you activate a Freelancer or Client mode, we collect what you choose to add to that profile — for Freelancers, this may include skills, portfolio items, hourly rate, availability, and identity/payment verification status; for Clients, this may include company details and billing/identity verification status.

Job, proposal and contract data. Job postings, proposals, screening question answers, offers, contracts, and milestone details you create or that are created about you by another user.

Messages. Content you send through our messaging tools, including any file attachments, so the relevant parties to a conversation can access their message history.

Payment information. We do not collect or store your full card number, CVV, or bank account number. Card and bank details are entered directly into Stripe's own secure interface and go straight to Stripe. What we do store is limited to Stripe-issued references (such as a customer ID, payment intent ID, and payment status) and the amounts and currency of transactions, so we can show you accurate transaction history and reconcile payouts.

Reviews. Ratings and written feedback you give or receive after a completed contract.

Account security data. Login timestamps, IP address, device/browser information, and session identifiers, so you can see and revoke active sessions from your dashboard and so we can detect suspicious activity.

Audit and security logs. We log security-relevant and privileged actions (such as logins, password resets, session revocations, and administrative actions taken on your account) with a timestamp, the acting user, and IP address, for fraud prevention, dispute resolution, and accountability.

Communications with us. If you contact us for support, we collect what you send us (for example, your email address and the content of your message) to respond to you.

3. How we use your information

We use the information above to: create and maintain your account; operate the marketplace (matching, messaging, proposals, offers, contracts, milestones); process payments and payouts through Stripe; verify identity where our verification features require it; detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents; enforce our Terms of Service; send you transactional emails (such as verification, password reset, and milestone/notification emails); respond to support requests; and comply with legal obligations, including tax and financial recordkeeping requirements.

We do not use your personal data for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects about you, and we do not sell your personal data to third parties.

4. Legal basis for processing

We process your personal data because it is necessary to perform our contract with you (the Terms of Service you accept when registering), because you have given consent (for example, when you accept the Terms and this Policy at registration), because we have a legitimate interest in operating a secure and trustworthy marketplace (for example, fraud detection and audit logging), or because we are required to by law (for example, financial recordkeeping).

5. How we share information

We share information with:

Other users, as needed for the Platform to function — for example, a Client sees a Freelancer's public profile and proposal, and a Freelancer sees a Client's job posting and messages sent to them. Your account email address is not shown to other users; your display name and any profile information you choose to make public is visible as described on the relevant profile page.

Stripe, to process payments, manage payouts, and run identity/fraud checks required for us to accept and move money on your behalf.

Our hosting and infrastructure providers, who store and run the Platform on our behalf under contractual confidentiality obligations.

Our transactional email provider, to deliver account and notification emails.

Law enforcement or regulators, where required by law, legal process, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of IndiaFreelancers.com, our users, or the public.

A successor entity, in the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, subject to that entity honouring the commitments in this Policy.

6. Cookies and similar technologies

We use a session cookie that is strictly necessary to keep you signed in and to protect your account with CSRF protection; this cookie is set with the HttpOnly and SameSite attributes and is not used for advertising or cross-site tracking. If we introduce analytics or marketing cookies in the future, we will update this Policy and provide the consent controls required by applicable law before doing so.

7. Data retention

We retain account and profile data for as long as your account is active. If you close your account, we retain a limited set of records — including transaction, audit-log, and contract records — for as long as necessary to comply with tax, accounting, and legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements, after which it is deleted or anonymised. Security and audit logs are retained for a limited period appropriate to fraud prevention and are not kept indefinitely.

8. How we protect your information

We use industry-standard safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the data involved, including Argon2id password hashing, encrypted transport (HTTPS) for data in transit, session identifier rotation on login, CSRF protection on state-changing requests, a strict Content-Security-Policy, and server-side audit logging of privileged and financial actions. Because we never handle raw card data ourselves — it goes directly to Stripe — our own payment processing scope is deliberately minimised. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Your rights

Subject to applicable law, including India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you have the right to: access the personal data we hold about you; correct inaccurate or incomplete data; request erasure of your data, subject to our legal and legitimate retention needs described in Section 7; withdraw consent where we rely on consent; and lodge a grievance with us, or with the relevant data protection authority, if you believe we have not handled your data properly. You can access and update most of your account and profile information directly from your dashboard. For other requests, contact us using the details in Section 13, and you may also nominate another individual to exercise these rights on your behalf in the event of death or incapacity, as provided under applicable law.

10. Children's privacy

The Platform is not directed to, and is not intended for use by, anyone under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us and we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

11. International data transfers

Some of our service providers, including Stripe, may process data outside India. Where personal data is transferred internationally, we require that it is handled consistently with this Policy and applicable law, including any contractual safeguards required for such transfers.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the effective date above and, where required by law, provide additional notice or seek renewed consent.

13. Contact us / grievance officer

For privacy questions, data requests, or complaints, contact:

[Grievance Officer / Data Protection Contact Name]
IndiaFreelancers.com
[Registered address]
Email: hello@indiafreelancers.com

You can also reach us via our contact page.